• Newton’s First Law of Motion states: An object at rest remains at rest, or if in motion, remains in motion at a constant velocity unless acted on by a net external force.
• Newton’s Law of Motion gives us insight into much more than just inanimate objects. It gives us insight into:
• People: We have a tendency to stay in a place, a situation, a relationship, a job, a church until there is a great force that forces us to change. We even see this in the Bible with Peter on Mt. of the Transfiguration and the people of Israel who chose to remain in Babylon after the exile rather than go home.
• The Gospel: On our own, we are stuck in our own sin, brokenness, death, and lostness (Ephesians 2:1-3). The greater force that changes all of that bringing us from death to life is not our own willpower but God at work in our lives (Ephesians 2:4-5).
• The Church: The picture that Luke paints of the Early Church in Acts is that everything starts out great in Acts 2 as the church explodes onto the scene, but the challenge was that no one wanted to leave Jerusalem. It took the dispersion of Acts 8 to get the church to bring the Gospel message out of Jerusalem into Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.
• God’s calling upon the life of the church is not live in a holy huddle but to bring the Gospel out into the world.
• Jesus explains the purpose of the church in John 20:21 saying that just as the Father sent Him, He is now sending the church that the world might know God through the church.
• We are a sent people.

The early church did not rush out and start taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth right away. It was not until the events Luke recorded in Acts 7 & 8 that the church was scattered. Not until this time did the message of salvation in Jesus Christ really begin to spread beyond Jerusalem to reach Judea, Samaria, and beyond.

Once scattered though, there was no stopping the preaching of Christ and him crucified. These followers of Jesus, who needed persecution to get them moving, in the end, changed the world. Just like these early disciples, the church today, when at rest, tends to stay at rest. Many churches adopted an attractional approach to ministry and today struggle to understand why people no longer come to their doors as they once did.

2020 has been a year of change and like the persecution of the early church, this year has posed serious questions to the church. In response to the global pandemic, will we stick to church as usual or will we take this as a catalyst and take the time to re-think how we take the Gospel to the ends of the earth?

In Acts 8:26-40, Phillip responds to God’s launching his ministry, encountering a eunch returning to Ethiopia. Consider how God has engaged, encouraged, and equipped you.

• Where has God placed you that may be a place where God is launching you into mission and ministry in his name?
• How might you invite others to walk alongside you, just as Paul traveled with others on his missionary journeys, for support and shared mission together?